frb newsletter

Bob Sefrit is part of the Fairfax MO Growing Project. He was invited to give a testimony at the 2014 Annual Gathering in August. Below are the words he shared about his involvement in FRB. 

My involvement with FRB began in 2007 when 12 members of our Fairfax United Methodist men stepped forward and said they would support a Foods Resource  Bank Project.  I volunteered 10 acres along Hwy 46 East of Fairfax.  We planned to keep the project small so that we could control it.  God had other plans

On Sunday August 31, 150 bikers of all ages participated in the first FRB Tour de Farms hosted by the Western Springs/Mazon Growing Project. Biking about 12 miles total, participants toured the fields and farms of several Mazon farmers

The recent conflict in Gaza, which started on July 8, 2014, comes shortly after major flooding in the region this winter.  The local partner and participants in FRB's Palestine-Gaza program have been focusing on how best to manage these immediate threats to livelihoods while still trying to maintain a development focus.  

On February 2nd 2014, FRB granted an additional request for funding which allowed participants to rebuild rabbit shelters and replace livestock that were lost or destroyed in the severe floods.

Despite many challenges in the last year, including aerial fumigation by high-altitude government planes that did not discriminate between coca and other crops, FRB’s Colombia-Chocó program continues to support smallholder farmers in growing cacao (cocoa) and other crops for home consumption and income. The local partner and participant farmers work at establishing socioeconomic stability, productive development, employment generation, and improving the quality of life for economically marginalized and socially vulnerable families through sustainable agriculture development and local governance activities. A recent report from the local partner states:

Thanks to new farming technologies that make better use of their hilly land in the mountainous tribal area in the country's northeast, farmers like Mr. Omoilo and Mrs. Dibi who participate in FRB’s India-Patharkhmah program are harvesting more food for home consumption and income.

Staff and volunteers in FRB's Burkina Faso-Central program are finding creative ways to improve nutrition using one very special tree.  

"A state of emergency has been declared in Liberia, and the World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern." - World Renew Staff 

FRB’s Land Rights and Food Security program, in Sengerema, Tanzania, aims to protect farmers from outside land acquisition by training them on securing titles to their land, and educating them on improved agricultural practices to increase their productivity. 

Doña Nereyda is a nutrionist and enthusiastic speaker from Nicaragua. Recently, she began an adventure through the mountains, with FRB's Nicaragua - Farmer program, to share the value of eating fresh and local foods. Read her story here!